New Delhi: The Indian Youth Congress staged a protest in Central Delhi on Tuesday over the State Bank of India moving the Supreme Court to seek more time to disclose electoral bond details and said the "SBI must reveal the names of the donors". Scores of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) leaders and workers gathered outside its office in Raisina road holding banners and raising slogans.
The security was also beefed up in the area with the police personnel and barricades being deployed near the IYC office. Addressing the media at the protest venue, IYC national president Srinivas BV alleged, "It is an irony that in the era of digital banking, the SBI has sought five months time to extract the data. Despite the order of the Supreme Court, why is the SBI struggling with information about electoral bonds?"
In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court on February 15 annulled the electoral bonds scheme for political funding, saying it violated the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to information. A five-judge Constitution bench directed that the SBI must disclose details of each electoral bond encashed by the political parties. The information should include the date of encashment and the denomination of the bonds and be submitted to the poll panel by March 6.
